Residents revitalize South Los Angeles park
Christine Trang | 4-5-2010 | Comments |

Two years ago, gangs gathered outside Martin Luther King Jr. Park, a recreational area located just across the street from Les Benson’s Los Angeles home. Benson described gang members who showed up drunk, and others who sold drugs and decided where to stage their next drive by.

“I witnessed one lady get shot one morning because a drug deal went bad,” Benson said. “She pleaded with the guy and said she needed to be with her child, but he still killed her.”

For years, Benson showed up at the park to act like a father figure to some of these gang members.

“I still remember when some of them were in their mothers’ bellies,” Benson said.

But Celia Castellanos, a Los Angeles resident, experienced something a little different. Though she lived near the park, she and her family avoided it at all costs.

“As a little girl, I never came to this area,” Castellanos said. “There were just some things happening around here that were not appropriate for children to see or be around.”

Now, the scene at Martin Luther King Jr. Park is different. Benson, Castellanos and other residents of the 39th and Western neighborhood partnered with Community Coalition last year to reduce violence and revitalize the park.

Within one year, residents won and maintained strict conditions against Century Market, a neighboring liquor store deemed a public nuisance. They also won improved resources for the park, including renovations at the Martin Luther King Therapeutic Center, a place nobody catered to because toxic mold covered the building. Residents also fought for basketball and tennis courts.

As part of an ongoing community effort to turn the South Los Angeles park around, more than 150 families gathered at the park Saturday for an Easter “Family Fun Eggstravaganza.”

Saturday’s event was one in an ongoing series hosted by Community Coalition to educate the public about the project’s improvements, provide input on future changes and inform people about the process used to make the park cleaner and safer.

“Improvements did not happen here because someone downtown thought it would be a good idea,” Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president and CEO of Community Coalition, said to the crowd. “It happened here because you got involved.”

But Eduardo Esqueda, park director, said the process did not always come easily.

“One of the hardest parts about revitalizing the park is learning how to deal with drug users and prostitutes,” Esqueda said. “I used to write reports about illegal activity two or three times a day, so the Los Angeles Police Department eventually decided to create a Stop In Center, where they could be close enough to the park to see what was going on.”

The project is due to receive less than $1 million from Proposition K, a plan expected to generate $25 million each year in funds for the improvement, construction and maintenance of Los Angeles parks and recreation facilities. The money from Proposition K will go toward creating a synthetic soccer field at Martin Luther King Jr. Park. Improvements already made, including basketball and tennis courts, and the addition of security cameras, cost the city about $1 million.

But Harris-Dawson said money was not the concern.

“We tried to come up with a solution that did not need a lot of police coming in to our neighborhood and arresting our kids,” Harris-Dawson said.

And everyone agreed the revitalization of the park was the best solution.

“I got involved because I wanted to improve the area so that generations to come would not be faced with the same situation I was,” Castellanos said.

But despite concerns from some residents, Benson said safety is what matters most.

“I have seen carnage in this neighborhood,” Benson said. “That is why I am glad to see this park develop the way it developed, because nobody needs to run or be afraid anymore."

Tags: christine trang community coalition martin luther king jr. park proposition k south los angeles